Trick or Treat
by peacepoetrypotter
Summary: Years of pent-up anger and hatred between Draco and his father culminate with a sick tribute to James and Lily Potter at the end of October 2006.


**_25 October 2006_**

"The bastard!" Draco bellowed, violently throwing the paper to the floor as anger erupted in his eyes, filling the rest of his body more and more with each breath he took. Hermione sent him a scolding but tender look, bouncing Scorpius up and down in her arms, her left hand stroking the baby boy's signature Malfoy white-blond hair.

"They let him off the hook again! Again! And he still can't even make it out of the bloody building before spewing venom our way!"

"What was it this time, Draco?" she asked calmly, hoping the baby didn't react to Draco's outburst.

"Some reporter type asked him about us, and he got a bit fired up, if you can believe that," he replied sardonically, lowering his voice as he picked the newspaper up off of the floor and brought it over to Hermione. He traded her the paper for the sleeping child so that she could devote her attention to reading the article.

THE GREAT DIVIDE IN THE MALFOY FAMILY

FATHER ANGRIER THAN EVER AS GRANDSON FACES HIS FIRST MONTHS

TENSION RISING IN PUREBLOOD COMMUNITY AND ELSEWHERE

'Lucius Malfoy was on trial today - the ninth time that charges have been raised against him since his official pardon in 2000 - for the attack of a Muggleborn witch's family three months ago. The family has elected not to be named as a safety precaution. The witch, a minor, faced the possibility of expulsion from Hogwarts under charges of improper and disallowed use of magic, the first thread leading into the rest of the case. She was granted pardon for using magic outside of school when it was discovered that she had used magic only to defend herself and her family after a group of four former Death Eaters broke into their home.

The fervent stance she has taken and her demand for equality and respect within the Wizarding community make her more vulnerable to such attacks, but this case is especially uncanny in respect to the Malfoy family. The young witch, known for her stellar marks and extensive talent and vocabulary, was found to be washing her own clothes, evidently after learning that Hogwarts employs house elves to do such work; she can effortlessly be compared to Hermione Malfoy: Lucius' estranged Muggleborn daughter-in-law, who is famous for having spent her entire time in the Wizarding world fighting for Muggleborn rights. Later during her school days, she also worked to spare the house elves of labour. Lucius has a particular disdain for the young Mrs Malfoy, and even more so within the past year, in which she and his son have finally - after six years of working for the repeal of the laws which made almost all intermarriage illegal - become legally married, a victory soon followed by the announcement of Hermione's pregnancy, and then by the birth of their son Scorpius Malfoy three months ago.

The trial was conducted with a closed court, so the scant information that the Daily Prophet has been able to gleam has been gathered primarily from private interviews with the Aurors in charge of the investigation as well as the plaintiff and her family. However, Dempster Wiggleswade, the Prophet's liasion from the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, was able to catch Lucius before he left the Ministry property, and ask him a few questions. He gave us the highlights:

_Dempster Wiggleswade: I hear there is a recent addition to the Malfoy family. Any comments, Lucius?_

_Lucius Malfoy: Not to my family, there isn't! The kid's that Mudblood's son. They're no relations of mine! They aren't Malfoys! They're more Potters than they are Malfoys!_

_DW: What about your son, then? He certainly considers them to be Malfoys._

_LM: Draco's the biggest disgrace the family's ever had! He's thrown away centuries of honour for a high-school fling!_

_DW: I sense you believe the relationship is not as serious as it seems. Is this a major concern of yours, Mr. Malfoy?_

_LM: My major concern right now is doing away with that Mudblood and the filthy child. I don't care how serious it may or may not seem!'_

The article went on, but Hermione's mind stopped understanding what she was reading.

_Maybe he's even more dangerous than we've thought…especially if they're still letting him loose. There's no way he's innocent, and the way he talks about us should prove that! _She cringed. _What if the Ministry is in league with them again - with the former Death Eaters? I mean, Theo Nott never seemed to be headed towards being Minister for Magic; he was a Slytherin bad boy our entire time in school! How could we have overlooked something like that?_

The thoughts spun through her head quickly enough to dizzy her, and she eventually sat down, positioning herself across the table from where Draco was sitting with Scorpius. Both she and Draco startled as their owl sped through the room, depositing a stack of letters at the end of the table. She started to sort them, nervously glancing around the room. About halfway through the pile, her eyes locked on one of the photographs hanging in their kitchen, a clip of Harry and Ginny, James collapsed in Harry's arms and Albus cradled in Ginny's. Hermione gasped.

"Draco," she said, practically whimpering. He turned his eyes away from Scorpius, looking up at her in confusion. "It's October," she realised aloud, standing up to pace the length of the kitchen. "Today is the 25th of October. Hallowe'en is six days from today…"

"What does that have to do with-" Draco began, then his eyes landed on the photograph of Harry and Ginny with their sons. He stopped himself so abruptly that he was unable to breathe at all for about ten seconds.

"No…no…no! He- he wouldn't. He couldn't," he stammered, planting another gentle kiss on Scorpius' forehead before Hermione reached out to take him back into her own arms.

"The bastard," Draco bellowed, storming to the other side of the kitchen as tears began streaming down his face. "That man," he barked when he resumed speaking. "That man is not going to get anywhere near my family."

_**31 October 2006**_

Draco ushered away the last of the children, slightly surprised that there were still some wandering around past ten at night, and set the nearly empty pumpkin-shaped bowl on the kitchen counter before pulling his wand from his waistband and closing the curtains. He locked the door, double, triple and quadruple checked the locks, and then sealed it magically. He went through the entire house doing the same, shutting all the blinds and curtains and locking every door. His heartbeat raced far in front of him when he returned to their bedroom and saw that it was empty, but sped back to the kitchen to find Hermione filling two mugs with tea. At closer examination he saw that she'd also taken the bottle of Calming Drought from their potions cupboard and stirred some into each.

"We need to get at least a little sleep," she said softly, as though she really needed to explain, leaning back into him as he walked up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist. They drank their tea without moving from their positions, setting their magically washed mugs back into the cupboard before gently picking Scorpius up from his resting place and laying him in his crib. They quietly debated whether or not to change, and decided to air on the side of safety and remain in their regular clothes. By midnight, they had both fallen asleep, but a clanging awoke Draco a few minutes past one, seemingly coming from downstairs. He sat up to listen, and the noise continued, ending sharply in a blast which woke both Hermione and Scorpius as well. Hermione raced to grab Scorpius, holding him in her arms and shushing him, going back to her bedstand and picking up her wand as Draco grabbed his. A couple nerve-wracking minutes of waiting later, and there was a creaking which seemed to be coming from the first floor. Hermione buried Scorpius' face in her shoulder and both she and Draco braced for the worst as they shared a passionate, wistful kiss.

"Stay here; make sure the wards are down," Draco whispered before he kissed Scorpius' head. "If he makes it to the stairs, take Scorpius and get the hell out of here."

"Draco-" Hermione began to protest, but he put a finger to her lips to quiet her, slightly complicating their embrace.

"James left to meet him, you know," she pled. "Lily stayed in the nursery."

"He's my father, Hermione. However this goes down…I have to be the one to do it. The one to confront him."

"We fought so hard, Draco…"

"We still are, love. Maybe we always will be. But I promised you I was going to fight until we conquered it all, no matter what happened, however many battles we have to fight."

"Turns out we've got another battle ahead of us…"

"And that's the last step before the second floor," Draco moaned at the step's particular creak. He sighed. "I'm going to try to catch him by the door before the staircase up here." He reticently let go of her and leaned forward, kissing Scorpius on his forehead. The baby was wide awake, but looking at his parents seemingly with curiosity.

"Be strong, Scorpius," Draco whispered, and veered himself to the door. He raised his wand as he looked back at his heartbroken wife and newborn son. "Whatever you do, don't go anywhere near him unless you're certain I'm dead, Hermione, understand? Shut off your Gryffindor hero instinct for tonight." She looked at him mournfully, her eyes all but begging him to withdraw his words, but knowing that they were both strong enough for him not to. She nodded.

"I love you," she cried quietly.

"And I love you," he replied. "More than anything."

He twisted the doorknob and left the room, closing the door behind him. Moments later the whole house came alive, the two men's voices and spells rocketing and ricocheting throughout the building. After about ten minutes she could tell that their fight had migrated to the bottom of the staircase connecting the second and third floors. Even as Lucius and Draco spoke to one another at a usual volume she could hear them, but after being drawn back to the baby in her arms, her mind suddenly was racing too quickly for her to keep up. She began to have to fight to pay attention, until there was an almost deafening crash and a bright flash of light, which shook the house and set her off balance, but at once quieted the tumult. She pulled Scorpius closer to her chest, breathing shakily and forcing herself to keep her tears behind her eyelids.

The silence seemed to be painfully, dreadfully long, but it was eventually broken with the echo of a man clearing his throat. It was a guttural, almost animal sound, and pierced Hermione with fear. Then she heard the weight of one boot after another pressing into the squeaky wooden steps: one…two…one…two…one...

She squeezed Scorpius as tightly as she thought she could without hurting him, and recreated the scene of her baby shower at the Burrow. The lock shattered, the door flew open, and she saw only a flash of a toxic scowl, the tip of a cane, and long blond hair, before she was gone.


End file.
